The Secrete Orginization
by XmechanicXalanimalXno.15X
Summary: Amber Lune lost everything that was once dear to her, forced to live under the same roof as the evil man that killed her family. after running away no where to go and a fascination toward music kidd finds herself lurking the underground of the pairs opera
1. Part 1: Chapter 1

Prologue

"Wake Up." 9 year old Amber Aurore Lune heard her loving older brother Adrian whispering in her ear. As she opened her eyes they were burned by the sunlight outside their tent. She rolled over and moaned in annoyance, "Turn the sun out it's too bright." "Come on Kidd, it's already noon, what are you going to do, sleep all day?"

Kidd was the nickname given to her by her older brother randomly all of her life, she never knew why he called her that, she never asked, but he never called her by her real name, she was always just Kidd. "That was my intentions." She replied covering her face with her pillow. "Ah come on Kidd, it's a nice day outside. Someone your age should be out playing, not inside sleeping all day." Adrian urged her.

"There's no one to play with." She argued now pulling her blankets tighter over her body. Adrian sneered, yanking them off of her and throwing them behind him. "Hey!" She shouted jumping up. "No more sleeping." He said sternly yet still with that playful Adrian look on his face, and as always no matter how much she didn't want to seeing that typical look of Adrian's face made her let loose in laughter which only grew worse after he tickled her vigorously.

"Come on Kidd, get dressed and come outside, we've just made camp." Adrian ordered. "Ok." She agreed as he walked out of the tent, giving her privacy. She dressed in her brother's hammy downs, most people in her time saw it as typically inappropriate for girls to be wearing pants instead of dresses, but Amber just never felt right in a dress they were uncomfortable and hard to move in. When she was younger her parents tried to force her into wearing them, but she would always just rip them off. She hated them at an early age and realizing this they decided to pass on her brother's hammy downs to her. Adele and Acelin Lune were two very good natured and accepting parents. Then again they had to be.

Outside the sun was at it's warmest and brightest peak of the day, and her eyes were once again burned to the core as she stepped out of the tent. All around several freaks were setting things up for tonight's show. "So guess where we are." Adrian said. Amber looked around her for clues, there were lots of tree's everywhere, they seemed to be making camp in a very woodsy area. Then again, this was the typical place to make camp in. Freaks were not accepted by most people. Freak Shows them-selves were actually illegal in most places in the world. Causing many of them to have to hide in secrecy.

"I don't know." She replied. Adrian smiled and took his little sister's hand in his own, "Let's go for a walk."

Beyond the woods they came to a wide opening with many grey stoned buildings around them. The aroma smelt of freshly baked bread and the air around sounded of beautiful music coming from the Paris Opera House. "You don't recognize this place do you?" Adrian questioned leaning over to look Amber in her adoring bright moon lit blue eyes. "I don't remember ever being here before, but this place, it's beautiful." She replied her voice letting off an immediate awe as she gazed upon the town in pure amazement. "Well you haven't been here since you were a baby." Adrian said, "We're in Paris Kidd, It's where you were born."

Amber smiled in astonishment, how could she have been born in such a beautiful place? Adrian proceeded on to spending the rest of the daylight hours with his little sister exploring the city of Central Paris. Seeing sights such as the Place de la Concorde, the famous Rue Saint-Honore, Place de la Madeleine, Place Vendome and the Colonne de la Grand Armee.

Bit by bit Amber became more and more fascinated with her birthplace. Her favorite was the last place they stopped by, the Paris Opera house. They didn't stay long, they just sat on the steps and listen to the orchestra rehearsing which could be heard all the way out side the doors. Amber felt a strange fascination to the music, it caressed her in a way she couldn't explain. She wanted to stay there forever. It was the most inspiring feeling she'd ever experienced.

Once the sunset came they headed back toward the cirque to help their parents get ready for the show. Their parents Adele and Acelin Lune worked for the Cirque de Mal, a traveling freak show that circled around the world. They themselves were not freaks, but their parents had a strange powers that no one could explain. Not even they could explain it. It was an odd mystery that no one could ever solve.

They returned to the Cirque right at the point in time where the moon was finally peaking out from the clouds. This meant that the show would be opening soon and the area would be swarmed with both fascinated and terrified people of all ages. There was now a banner up in front of the entrance to the long woodsy trail that lead to the freaks. It was painted black and red stripes and in blood like letters it read "Cirque de Mal." The Lune's well known old friend Quatre Yeux (an overweight midget with four eyes) stood waiting by the banner with a bottle of rum in one hand and a cigar in the other. "Hey kids." His husky voice greeted them as he took a hit of his cigar. "Hello Quatre Yeux." Adrian responded, patting the short man's bald head, "Waiting for the people to arrive I suppose?" "Yeah I'm selling the tickets." He replied.

"Seeing a sight like you right before the show might scare them all away. You think Achille would put someone with tad better features to the job?" James Morris, the rubber man himself, joked around smacking Quatre Yeux shoulder. James was known as "the rubber man" by people from different countries around the world. He was one of the cirque's main attractions. He had super stretchy skin that could stretch out over 6 feet. One of his famous acts was pulling the skin of his neck up, over, and around his entire face.

"Ah shut up." Quatre Yeux replied taking another hit from his cigar. "Adrian, Amber, your parents are looking for you." James informed the two. "Thanks James." They both said heading for their parents tent.

When they first arrived their mother was getting her make up ready for the show. Her act involved her looking as beautiful and as lustful as a goddess. Adele had a strange power and a beautiful voice. She used her voice to sing people into a trance. A trance that was almost inescapable, once you had fallen into it you were paralyzed and trapped within the walls of your own mind. This is when she intruded, seeing every precious, pure, or evil thought that you had ever considered. She performed her bit by having a volunteer from the audience come on stage. She chose this volunteer by singing the whole audience into a trance and closely examining their minds. Once she found the one with the weakest immunity to her voice she summoned them to her. After they were on the stage she went through their memories and gave a short summary of the person's entire life up until that moment aloud, turning it all into a song. A strong key element to her power was the lust men felt and the awe women did when they saw her beautiful body, it made them more vulnerable to her. So when she came on stage she wore reveling clothing and danced in somewhat sexual ways for a short while before she began to sing.

"Darlings!" Adele's voice lifted the room as she sang rushing to her children to embrace them, "Where on earth have you two been?" "We explored Paris, mother!" Amber announced proudly. "Did you?" She smiled wiping Amber's long black hair away from her shining moon lit blue eyes (that she did inherit from Adele.) Their mother gazed up at Adrian who's seven teen year old body slightly towered over her. "Do consult us before you run off with your sister next time dear." She requested, emphasizing the before in the sentence, "Your father and I have been worried."

"There they are." Their tall blond haired father, Acelin said as he entered. "Acelin could you please light this candle for me, it's a bit dark in here." Adele asked, holding up the candle. Acelin smiled and took the candle into his own hands and then gently blew a small flame from his mouth to the wick. A mystery the earth could not explain was that this was a power that Acelin had, he had all his life. The same power that got him to where he worked for the cirque, the very place where he fell in love with Adele. Strangely enough Adrian nor Amber had inherited anything of the nature from their parents. They were two perfectly normal human beings.

What seemed like hundreds of horror-hungry people crowded around the stage waiting anxiously for the curtain to rise. On most nights Adrian and Amber would not bother to watch the show, since they'd already seen it so many times. But the excitement of being back in Paris kept them awake. They sat in the front row conversing with themselves and others around them, not letting off that their parents were freaks just for the fun of it. They made up a story that they were two siblings who sneaked out to see the show. It did start at midnight and last hours on after all.

Suddenly a shadow behind the curtain stepped on to the stage and a dark, scratchy, voice announced, "Ladies and Gentleman, what you are about to see may just be the most terrifying, amazing, extraordinary experience you may ever experience. You about to encounter on some of the world's most astonishing, sickening, and beautiful people ever born. I give you, the Cirque de Mal!" The curtain rose with tremendous applause reveling the leader of the Cirque, Achille Gardien wearing his bright red suite, complete with cape and top hat. Achille was a hero among the cirque. He him-self was not a freak, but without him many freaks would have no place to call home. He spent all the money he earned from selling tickets to the show taking care of it's key components, which mainly consisted of the freaks themselves. He fed them and clothed them, and paid them the amount of money they deserved for their performances.

Achille took a bow, and then rose up to announce the first act, "Our first freak is in all words and best described as a freak of nature himself, half human, half elephant! I give you, Joseph Merrick, the elephant man!" Amber and Adrian did not applaud, Joseph was an angry old man that did not like children. He often swore at them from his cabin when ever they passed him. He entered the stage and some screamed while others applauded as they gazed upon his large tusk and elephant nose and ears. The kids rolled their eyes in annoyance but then smiled as their good friend Myrtle Corbin, the four legged girl, came on stage to join Joseph Merrick.

Then, before Joseph and Myrtle could have enough time to get into their act, a group of red cloaked people broke the doors in, intruding. There appeared to be 10 or more of them with their faces hid by their red hoods. Suddenly, before their very eyes, Joseph Merrick was shot in the chest, blood seeping out through his vest, he held his hand to it for a moment, but it was too late Joseph was a man in his late 80's he'd been performing for the cirque since it'd began, he simply was not in a good enough health to live a bullet to his heart, he fell over on the stage and died in front of the audience.

Myrtle screamed at this sight and started to run away, but she was next. The audience was next to scream in terror and run away, and the cloaked ones let them pass. The one with the gun appeared to be the leader. "You vile abominations are not welcome in this town! Your sickening and repulsive ways are therefore worthy of death. Go back to hell you demons!" He screamed, as he and his followers threw their torches in the air, everything around them caught fire and the ones in the red cloaks left. "Kidd we have to run!" Adrian said taking her hand. They sprinted frantically around the large circus tent searching for an escape avoiding the flames as best they could, but soon enough they grew larger and larger, their lives were in more danger every second spent trying to find a way out. Every way they thought of was blocked by the flames. Then suddenly Adrian looked up. The flames weren't high enough yet to burned through the top of the tent. He paused for split second and in that time had a short flashback from when he was eight years old and Kidd was born.

He remember his father telling him that he had a little sister now and he had to always look out for her and protect her, that same day, Acelin passed on a knife to him that had been in the family for generations. Ever since that day he'd carried it with him everywhere, if only he could climb to the top and cut through the cloth. It was the only escape. He searched around looking for a way, and then he saw it, the ladder hanging from the top of the stage, it was there for one of the acts. The stage had caught fire but they could get around it just to get to the ladder! Adrian pulled Amber with him to the stage and lifted her on his shoulders after handing her the knife and instructed her what to do. No later than when she reached the first step of the ladder, Adrian's leg caught fire and fell to the ground in pain.

Quickly she grasped the step holding herself up, "Adrian!" She cried out reaching her other hand out, but it was too late. Fighting back tears she knew she had to escape, she climbed the ladder and when she finally reached the last step she cut through the cloth and climbed through. Outside there was a massacre. Fire everywhere, burning the freaks life away. Dead bodies lie on the ground, flaming tree's falling on cabins and tents.

The hooded ones started an open fire, shooting everyone in sight. There was blood everywhere. Amber stared in horror, tears falling like water falls from her moon lit blue eyes. Then a familiar face came around. It was James holding out his arms, "Amber! Jump!" She hesitated afraid of a bad fall, but then looked around her, the space in which she stood was growing less safe by the minute. She closed her eyes, sucking up her tears and fear and jumped out as far as she could, landing in James's arms. He feel down from the gravitation and as soon as he did he was shot in the head by one of the red hooded men. Amber screamed and ran away. Everyone around her was dying, what was happening. Who were these people?

She ran out into the city away from the cirque. She stopped and halted unsure of her-self. Where would she go? She had to hide and fast, but where? She couldn't take too much time to think about this, what if they were coming for her? Amber lost track of though and ran as fast as her legs could carry her through Paris.

Almost subconsciously she ended up at the Opera House. She didn't know why she came here at all. There was still a late opera going on and like before you could hear the music playing outside. On the steps of the main entrance she rested, sobbing over everything that had happened. What would she do? Where were her parents, were they ok? So many questions filled her young mind that it was overwhelming her. That night sitting on the steps of the opera house, she cried herself to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1:

It's not a fun experience when everything that's been there all of your life is suddenly nothing but ashes. It's a strange and unpleasant feeling that no one should ever feel. You can see the memories fold out in front of you like forgotten ghost comparing to the now monochromic visions of death surrounding you. Amber felt this more than she had ever in her life as she looked around the campsite of the Cirque. Everyone was dead, and their bodies there for the her to see. The bottom of her shoes were covered in ashes and blood from the ground which she walked.

And then, her whole body came to a halt. Her heart froze like ice. There, in the middle of the campsite, lie the dead bodies of her parents, both shot, surrounded by a puddle of blood. "NO…" She said allowed to herself. Her breath became on even between sobs. She kneeled over them, crying over their corpse. Then, a sudden whisper, coming from underneath the burnt pile of wood where the same tent was that she had escaped. A survivor? "Who's there?" She demanded to know.

Amber heard another whisper that so faint she couldn't make out what it had said at all. She rushed over to the pile of burn wood, clearing piece by piece until she found the dying burn to the core body moaning in pain. "Kidd…" He whispered. Even severally burned and in so much pain she knew that voice. The only one who knew her by that name. "Adrian!" She cried. Throwing more wood off of his body in a frantic moment determined to save his life. "It's useless." He let out, "I'm dying Kidd."

She stopped in her tracks and turned to him bawling, "NO I WON'T LET YOU DIE!" "Kidd…" He sighed, "Come closer." Amber leaned her face as close as she could to his, staring him in his bloodshot eyes. His once full head of long blond hair was now all burned away, leaving his scalp crispy black like the rest of his body. "Don't tell anyone…. who you are… don't tell…. Don't them your name, or where your from. As soon they find out…. you were….. with the cirque…they'll burn you alive." Adrian told her, taking many long gasp for air throughout the sentence. "Adrian." Tears filled Amber's eyes so much her vision got foggy, it was hard to see his face. "Find….." He paused taking in deep breaths, "Find…..find…" "Find what?" Amber questioned, unintentionally screamed and shaking him. "Er….ik…" With that was his final breath.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2: 

The sweet sound of music filled her ears, as she once again sobbed on the steps of the opera house. Why did she always retreat back to here? A question she didn't know how to answer very well. She felt her own personal addiction to the music. It soothed her into her own world, made her problems disappear. Soon enough she slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

When she awoke the night sky drifted calmly above her. "Why on earth are you sleeping out here?" Amber looked up to see a young boy around her own age with long white blond hair tied back in a pony tail standing in front of her. "No where else to go." She replied, rubbing her eyes to help her wake up. "Well don't you have a home?" The boy said, turning his head in confusion.

Her heart stopped in a painful moment of remorse. She didn't have a home to go back to. Everything was gone. She found her self tearing up once more. "No." She whispered, her voice choking up. In that very second came a tall intimidating man, that looked like an adult version of the boy in front of her walking out of the opera house. "Gaurin!" The man bellowed, "What are you doing out here? I told you to wait for me in the carriage." "I'm sorry father, I grew bored. I was on my way inside to find you, but then I saw this girl sleeping on the steps." The boy replied, with a hint of fear in his eyes.

"I'm growing tired of your disobedience Gaurin. You try my patients more and more everyday." The man scolded him. "The girl, father. She has no home." The boy known as Gaurin informed the man, who then stared back at Amber in response. "Oh really?" He replied, "You, girl…what is your name?" Amber paused, in that moment she heard a haunting voice of the not so far away past, "Don't tell anyone…. who you are… don't tell…. Don't them your name, or where your from. As soon they find out…. you were….. with the cirque…they'll burn you alive." Adrian…the last thing he told her, before death cruelly snatched him away. Or perhaps not, there was something else. Something she didn't understand. She thought long and hard…what was it? The last thing Adrian wanted her to remember? "Find…" She remembered that…find…someone…what was that name? A name she had never heard in her life. A name she could barely even hear it was whispered so faintly.

"YOU! GIRL!" She was snapped out her deep thoughts by the man's beckoning demand, "I asked you, what is your name?" "Me…Oh my name…is…." What is my name? She though to herself, Adrian said not tell anyone my real name. "My name is Kidd." She blurted out without further thought on the matter. "Kidd? What kind of a bloody name is that?" He scoffed, "Where are your parents?"

Parents? She didn't have parents anymore. They were dead. As dead as her brother. As dead as her friends, as dead as…everyone she had ever known, but she wasn't suppose to tell him that. What could she say? She took a minute to really process who this man was. Like the boy she had woken up to seeing he had long white blond hair tied in a pony tail underneath a black hat, he wore a typical black jacket under a white dress shirt, a sliver cross around hanging off his neck.

Amber recognized the crucifix from many times in the past when religious groups had shown up to strike against the cirque and run them out of town. They came hold a large cross (sometimes made out of a wood and other times out of silver) in one hand and a torch in the other. Much like the torches the cloaked ones used to kill her family. "Are you deaf, girl!" The man yelled in her ear, grabbing her wrist violently, "Where are your parents?"

Saving Amber from answering right then and there came another guy approaching them from out of the opera house. He was rather young looking, like he might have been in his late teens, he had short dark brown hair and he wore similar clothing as the boys father did. "Marcellin, sir. The opera was rather ravishing, wouldn't you agree?" He said. "Oh Leon, I loved it. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life!" Gaurin exclaimed. The one that was now confirmed as Marcellin rolled his eyes at his son's excitement.

"Gaurin wait in the carriage like I told you to in the first place, please!" He ordered. Suddenly, Leon stared Amber in the eyes, long and hard, really studying her face. It felt a little uncomfortable. What was he looking at? "I know you." He said at last.

_*writer's notes* okay okay guys, I know what you are thinking, it says that this is phantom fict but what on earth does any this have to do with that phantom? Well heh heh, don't worry, you'll get your phantomy goodness soon enough. Are you curious as to how this will all add up? Tell me what you think! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW _


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3: 

Silence, unmoved and surrounding as the darkness it inhabits. All of the light, faded away, and the music…gone. Gone, gone, gone! All of it, was gone! Erik ripped his mask from his face and threw it forcefully. What was the point? Not even a mask could hide his accursed ugliness. It wasn't just his face deformed, it was _**him. **_He had finally escaped that persisting denial that his only possible flaw was just his face.

"_Oh Christine, my Christine…what have I done?"_ He thought. He shivered and wept like a sick puppy dying in the streets. Self loathing was misery's fine company. The once brightly lit candle in the dark world he lived had been blown away and would never return. And then, the worst part of it all, the music. The once beautiful flow of notes playing constantly in his head had dried up and faded like evaporating water.

Christine was gone, and she took the music with her. He glanced up from the corner he had crouched in at his now destroyed organ. Once brimming and grand, glowing with beauty, now smashed and dead, insignificant. All of his opera, his love, his passion, his life…burned to meaningless ashes. But now, what was it worth? Without his inspiration, without his angel, it was nothing. His life, was nothing. Nothing but a sad story of love, loss, and pain…soon to be forgotten.

His heart ached and his chest felt heavy. Memories of the past raced through his mind all the way to when he was a child. In that moment, he felt as if he were four years old again, living in that small house in Paris where he was born. He could see the red swollen crying eyes of his mother, and the dark eyes full of hatred that belonged to his father. He could see the empty loneliness of his old bedroom, a place where he spent most of his short and miserable childhood.

His stomach felt like an empty less pit and his back stung in what was pure pain as he remember the cruel, swift, swings from his father's thick belt and the starving sensation he suffered daily only being fed when his mother saw fit, which was not very often, and when he was his meals were small and mostly unpleasant. He could taste the stale, moldy bread, and dirt colored water in his mouth. While he could smell the juicy rosemary chicken and luscious mashed potato's being cooked in the other room for his parents and their guest to devour. Erik was never aloud out of his room when their were guest over, his parent's friends didn't even know about Erik's existence.

Then, that face. The one he despised more than his own. The one he hated. The face of his brother, Fredrick. Fredrick was the one his mother loved, the one that made her smile. Fredrick was the one his father gave a gentle hug and kiss. Fredrick was the one with the beautiful golden skin and the Arian features. "Spoiled little imbecile." Erik muttered to himself in disgust.

His memories moved on, to when he was ten years old, to when his father sold him to a cruel brute known as Vlad Moneru, the owner of a freak show, where he spent six years being locked in a cage and tortured by vile ingrates. 10 franks to throw mud at "the living dead boy". 20 franks to whip him with one the shows finest whips.

His unending remorse for his entire life became interrupted by three heavy knocks coming from the other side of his door. A visitor? But who? Erik rose to his feet carefully regaining his balance. Knowing better than to just open the door for an anyone, he peaked his eye through the small peep hole to see a familiar yet strange face staring back at him. "Erik, my dear friend, are you in there?"

Achille? But how? How did he even find this place? Erik unlocked the door and opened it with little hesitation. "Achille?" He said with great amount of confusion obviously present in his voice. Erik scanned his appearance, different than when he had last saw the man, then again, that was so many years ago. "Erik…I see the Persian is more of an honest man that I thought him to be. May I come in?" _The Persian? _Erik thought, _DAROGA! _That damned blabbermouth, giving out his whereabouts like common knowledge to be shared with the world. _I'll Kill Him! _He decided, clenching his fist so that his fingernails left small imprints in his palms.

"Come in, Achille. You are lucky that I know you well enough that I find you trustworthy." He said, holding the door open, "What on earth is going on, Achille? If I had not recognized you by your face and costume, you'd be a dead man walking, do you realize this?" Erik demanded to know slamming the door and locking it behind him. They both took a seat in the living room of Erik's small home.

Achille paused, not sure where to begin in this sort of situation. "Erik, you have changed so much since the last time I saw you." He said, "I remember when you were the helpless teenage boy I saved from Moneru's cruel form of entertainment."

"Yes, Achille. I owe you a great amount for this. If it weren't for you to have come and take me away from them, I'd have eventually been beaten or starved to death. But that was a long time ago Achille. My fate has been long out of the hands of Moneru and in my own. I am independent more than I have ever been in ways not even you would understand."

"The Persian has told me of many things. He is the reason I found where you were hiding, and dare I say you have picked a good place. It took me hours to find this spot."

"How the hell did you even come in contact with the man?"

"I have my ways."

"As do I." Erik finished, rising from his seat to pour some wine for his guest. "The Persian says you are a great composer. Have written your own opera." Achille continued on, taking a drink of the wine given to him. Erik paused, his chest aching, "I once was. But music, in any form…is dead to me now." He chocked out, painfully. Achille nodded, eyeballing the beaten in ash-covered organ in the corner of the room. "He also told me, about the girl…" "Girl?" He repeated nonchalantly pretending not to know what Achille was talking about. "Christine… Daae? Was that her name?"

_Christine…_The delicate glass of wine in Erik's hand shattered and fell to the floor. "Why have you come here Achille?" He questioned in fierce demanding tone. Achille stopped to take a gander at the broken glass on the floor. "You are in pain my friend…" Achille commented, in a sort of daze twisting his head at the sight of Erik burying his head in his arms, digging his nails into the corpse like yellow flesh of the back of his own neck. "You know nothing of pain." Erik grunted at him. Achille took a moment to let this all sink in. What had happened to Erik? Who had he become? He supposed he should stop beating around the bush before something too dramatic happened. Erik seemed to be uneasy at the moment and not very difficult to upset. But then again, _**that was the least of his problems. **_


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm not sure how to tell you, Erik." Achille sighed, slouching down in his seat. "Just get on with it, Achille. You are beginning to annoy me." Erik growled back at him, with an irritated eye roll. "It's the cirque Erik…" He began, this wasn't an easy thing to say. "What about the cirque? Are you still with them?" Erik questioned, turning his head. Achille took in a deep breath, "No…technically not." He replied. This brought confusion amongst Erik's mind, "How so? Have you abandoned that which you once loved?" "No, Erik. I could never do that. It's just…they have abandoned me. Left me on this earth to suffer, while they all gather together in that place which is better than here."

"What are you talking about Achille?" He asked with a heavy lump in his throat, he half knew what Achille was about to say, due to the context clues of his previous speech…but how could it be? How could something like this happen? "Dead…every last one of them, Erik. Killed by a cult of catholic supremacist no doubt. They ambushed us, every last one of us, during a show. They burned our camp site to the ground, those who were not swallowed alive by the flames, were shot or stabbed. Innocent people…massacred! And they called us the monsters!" Achille wept in sorrow, his tears soaking the arms of his long sleeve jacket, "They were my family, Erik. I watched over them, like they were my children! And now…they are gone."

"How did you survive?" Erik questioned with a heavy heart, he too had once been apart of that family…so many many years ago. He spent 6 years living in hell under the evil eye of Vlad Moneru. Until that day, that faithful day, when a young persian man came to see the show. Daroga, saw him, locked in a cage, being stoned with feces, whipped out of others amusement. But, that was not all he saw, he saw much more. He saw, the pain in Erik's eyes. He saw the man behind the face, the man crying out in silence. _Crying…for help. _The Persian…the first of very few people in the world that Erik could truly call his friend.

That same night, The Persian came back for him. He broke the lock on his cage and freed the lonely and tortured soul into the night. He hid him in the hull of the voyage he was taking back to Persia (he had been in Paris for business purposes.) Erik remembered that night so vividly, like it had only a occurred a few hours ago, but did not allow himself to remember any further than after he got off the boat…horrible things happened to him in Persia…things he did not want to ever remember. But in the end, the persian had saved him once again. It was he, that took Erik to the cirque (who had been in Persia to perform) , and bestowed him before Achille, who accepted him into the family with open arms. He traveled with the cirque for a number of years, one of the only times he felt as if, he truly lived in peace.

Achille continued on with his story, despite Erik's small gaze into the long forgotten past. "When I heard Joseph Merrick be shot on stage, I knew they were here for us, and in the end would wind up killing us all. This is not the first time the cirque has been attacked if you can recall, Erik."

He could recall. Several times before, when Erik was with the cirque, christian or catholic cults would come and protest, and sometimes would even get violent, and if a freak were to be captured…sometimes he died…other times he'd be locked away in a prison cell, the cirque to never hear from him or her ever again. It was a sad case when these things happened. But they **did** happen. It was apart the cruel curse of being born a freak. **People hated freaks.**

"As many as rioters have killed in the past, they have never ambushed the cirque, and massacred everyone." Erik replied. "They came with torches, Erik, lit torches! All dressed in these, bright red cloaks, the color of blood! They had their hoods covering their faces. No doubt, to hide their identities, the ruthless cowards. I escaped as quickly as I could before my life was taken as well."

"They would not have killed you. You are not a freak." Erik commented, angrily. "But it is I who shelters them, Erik. They would see it that I was not any better. Perhaps even worse, for bringing them into town." "YOU LEFT, YOU RAN OUT, WHILE INNOCENT PEOPLE DIED." He screamed back at him, in anger, "YOU WERE THEIR FATHER! THEIR SAVIOR, HERO! THEY LOVED YOU! DEPENDED ON YOU! AND YOU LEFT THEM, TO SAVE YOUR OWN SKIN!" He knocked over a lamp enraged at the very thought of what Achille had done. How dare he! That was not just his family, that was Erik's family too. The only one had ever known.

"You left!" Achille replied, standing his ground. "You ran off, with that, that women, and that girl. The little blond one, and her mother! Don't you remember Erik! It was 9 years ago. The second time we had come to Paris, since you joined us. You ran off with them! Adrian was kidnapped because of you! Adele and Acelin almost lost their son! 9 years ago Erik! Don't you remember! So don't you go pointing your bony finger at me!"

"I remember Achille! 9 years ago! 9 years ago, Vlad Moneru came searching for me after he heard the news of a disfigured man present at the freak show in town he came back to claim me as his own, because his business had fallen to the depths since my absence considering I was the main attraction. Madame Giry and little Meg were long time friends of the cirque and Madame Giry worked for the opera house. When I learned the news that Moneru was coming for me they decided to help me disappear before he found me. Moneru was not coming to massacre the cirque, he was coming to find me and so I left. I do not see where I have sinned in that, Achille!"

"My dear friend, you have forgotten something!" Achille spat back at him, "What about the Lune's boy, Adrian!"

"I have not forgot! And as I recall, it was I who saved the boy, not you Achille. Not the man who was the hero and father amongst the cirque."

"It was your fault he got kidnapped in the first place! You were the reason Moneru was lurking around the cirque! If he was only searching for you, then why was Adrian taken?"

"That was not my fault. The foolish lad was playing around with one of my mask. I had told him earlier that day not to do so, but he did not listen to me. Instead he pranced around like a fool announcing that he was the living dead boy. Moneru had not seen me since I was a child myself, it had not slipped his mind that I had grown up since then. When he saw a little boy in a mask he assumed it was me, and snatched him away. And the very next day, I was hiding in Madame Giry's home, when Adele came to me and reported her grief. I went to save the boy as I could. As I recall YOU left. You packed the cirque up and headed for London out of fear. Leaving the Lune family to grieve as they were forced to leave Paris, with their son in the hands of a stranger. Some leader you are."

"Erik, what was I to do? I could not risk everyone being caught over one boy. And, when they came to kill us all, once again…what was I to do? I could not take on a whole cult of people, there had to be at least 20 of them!"

"You could have at least tried to save them, been noble to what you have once called your children. Instead you left them to die."

"I would have died, Erik! It was impossible to save them." Achille argued. But Erik would not hear of it. He put his foot down, "Would a loyal father not die for his children? Would a noble leader not die for his people? Achille, you are nothing but a fraud, a coward. They thought you brave, looked up to you! And in the end you failed them all."

This broke Achille inside, Erik was right. He had failed them all. Left what he considered his children to be killed. His tears soaked the floor as he fell to the ground and wept. "You're right." He sobbed, "You're right. And it's too late now. I have failed my children."


	6. Chapter 6

For the next couple of weeks Erik agreed to let Achille stay with him in his home, but reminded him it was only out of the fact that Achille had taken him in his time of need and gave him a family. That he remained grateful for the days that Achille had let him stay with the Cirque, however this was the one and only time he would be repaying him for his deed and that after he found a place to stay he wished nothing more to do with him.

Achille agreed but still made several apologies to Erik for what he had done. Admitting how right Erik was and how guilty he had made him feel. "You'll have to sleep in the living room. I'll see what I can do about getting you a bed, but for now you'll have to make due with the couch. I'll fetch you some blankets." Erik told him starting to go off into the other room, when Achille stopped him in an immediate outburst, "Erik, there is another room over here, what are you using it for?" He questioned beginning to open the door but then realized it was locked. 

Erik hesitated, what was he to say? He took a brief moment to debate on whether to unlock the door or not. That room, once belonged to…_her. _He had not even gone near that door since she left, and he didn't want to now. Seeing the sight of a room he spent so much of his time working on…a room he made for _her. _A room in which _she_ slept. No. He couldn't let someone else stay in there. It wasn't built for Achille, it was built for Christine! 

"Achille, that room is private." Erik finally responded hoping that this would end the debate, but alas, he knew it would not. "Private or not Erik, I never hid a warm bed at the Cirque from you." He replied. "Do not try to guilt trip me, Achille. That room was not meant for you, and you shall not have it. You are lucky I am even letting you stay here, as soon as you find a place to go I want you out." Erik said harshly, throwing the blankets he had promised him on the couch. 

A moment of awkward silence passed, "I am sorry my friend. My greed has once again overwhelmed me. I can see now, that this must have been the room of your famous Christine the persian tells me of. No doubt you would not want anyone else sleeping in what was her bed. As you have said, I am lucky you are letting me stay here. I'll sleep on the couch." Achille agreed, laying down beneath the blankets. 

Erik thanked him for that matter, informing him that it would just be much too painful to even go near the room now that his Christine had left him. They bid they're good nights and headed and Erik headed to his room. That night, Achille dreamt of the recent past. He relived everything that had happened that night, in vivid detail. Better than he remember while being awake. His guilt seeped through the cracks of his hearts and found it's way into his nightmares. He watched from his hiding place as all of his children and his beloved cirque were burned alive. Then he remembered something…something that had skipped his mind whilst telling Erik the sad story of the tragic events that had occurred. Amber,…the littlest member of the cirque. Adrian's little sister. He saw it all too clearly now. She had escaped. He remembered seeing her, she ran out of the woods franticly sobbing like the little girl that she was.

Oh, how he had once adored that child. She was so beautiful and innocent, and now, she was alive. Yes. He was most certain of it. But for how long? How long until she was discovered. How long until she would suffer the same fate of her parents, and her brother. Adrian…yes Adrian the small boy who had once been kidnapped and rescued by non other than the man now known famously as the phantom of the opera. He had not lived to see his coming into adult hood. Burned alive in the fire. A sight Achille wished he would never have to see again, and yet he did. He saw it, vividly, and all its detail. 

What would happen of the girl now? Where was she? Dead, or alive? The nightmare only grew worse once Achille began to consider the possibilities of all of the horrible things that could have happen to her. He could hear her, her soft innocent little voice screaming out into the night as she was murdered by the evil men that had taken away her parents,, the evil men that had once thought themselves righteous when they were nothing more than foul demons bestowed upon the earth.

He snapped out of the nightmare due to Erik shaking him violently, "Wake up Achille! Stop screaming!" He commanded. "What?" Achille shouted startled, jumping to his feet, "Wha…what time is it?" "You've only been asleep no more than an hour, Achille, and you are already screaming loud enough to wake all of Paris! What on earth were you dreaming about?" 

"The girl, Erik! The girl!" Achille responded shaking Erik frantically, "She's alive!" "What girl!" Erik wanted to know, regaining his balance. "The Lune girl, Amber! She escaped! I saw her escaping! She lived!"

Erik came to a short standstill, "The girl…right I remember now, she was only a toddler the last time I saw her. Adele gave birth to her the first time we returned to Paris since my joining. The second time was when I left." "Yes Erik! Amber! She's older now, not much older than around ten. I saw her escaping. She's is alive, somewhere. I might have failed the rest of my children, but perhaps I can still save one of them." 

"So the truth has come to you in a dream." Erik stated, unemotionally. "Yes, Erik. How did you know?" Achille wondered. "If you would have been aware before you slept, you would have mentioned before that the girl was alive, rather than now. You have relived the past in a dream, it seems." He replied, sounding completely sure of himself. "Yes Erik, you are correct. I have to find the girl, I have to save what is left of my cirque. It is my duty as a father." Achille said proudly, putting on his coat. 

"How do you know Achille?" Erik questioned before he went running off, "How can you be sure it was not just a dream? Perhaps, she was murdered as well as the others and your guilt is disguising itself as hope. How can you be sure?" 

"It was not a dream Erik, I awoke with the memory of seeing her there." Achille said coldly. Erik noticed the change of tone, his previous words must have really gotten to him. Achille seemed different, it was almost if he knew what he had done and knew the coward he was, but if he saved the girl that it would make up for it all. "You know, if you save this girl, that does not make what you did go away." Erik told him, in a nicer tone. "I know Erik, it's just, I have to do what is right. If that little girl is found, by the same people who killed her parents, she might be killed too. I can't let that happen. I have to find her." Achille confessed, "I wonder where she is now?" He took all of the possibilities in, where could a little girl such as Amber be hiding out at in a place she had only been to as a toddler. It baffled him, but he would take it all one step at a time. First things first he would go the police. 

**Authors Note: I intended for this chapter to be longer but I have been busy lately and I know it would take me a while to finish so I wanted to leave you guys with at least something more in the meantime. So as I've said it might be a few days before the next chapter. So, do you think Achille will succeed in finding Amber? When will she meet Erik? Who were those people that took her away? Yes, many questions are in need of answering, but they will be answered in time! Please keep reading, and tell me what you think.**

**-Scarlet**


	7. Chapter 7

"_You couldn't understand…even if you tried. The reason why I cry at night. Today marks the sixth anniversy of the worse day of my life. Six years now, I've tried to be this person. Someone I'm not. I try to be strong and act normal. But who could be normal in this place? Marcellin goes on and on about freaks. How they're abominations to life. How they deserve to die. If only he knew I was the spawn of my parents. He would kill me within a minute. Leon knows who I am. Six years he's raised me like a little sister. But he could never take Adrian's place in my heart. No one could ever do that." _

"Kidd! What are you doing! Marcellin wanted you down stairs ten minutes ago!" Leon barked outside her door. "I'm coming." She replied, tucking her journal away under the mattress of her bed fully aware of the tragedies that lie ahead should anyone ever find it. She made her way out of her room after dressing in her new crimson red cloak assigned to her that morning. She had torn her other one yesterday during a session of training. She met Leon, who was impatiently waiting outside her door, "What has gotten into you, Kidd. Are you asking for a caning?" He demanded, shaking her furiously. "What from you?" She half laughed in reply. "Not I, him! Marcellin is already upset with you! Now here you are, provoking him again!" He scolded her, releasing his grasp. "He could bring me no more pain than he already has, no matter how hard he tries." Kidd replied leaving it at that and moving on.

"You're late." Marcellin complained sitting at his desk, twiddling his thumbs. "What is it you wanted?" Kidd questioned tiredly. "How dare you address me in such a way." He responded, but without anger in tone, "You seem to have forgotten who I am." "And who are you?" She asked sarcastically with an eye roll. "The the man who picked you up off the streets and raised you as his own!" Marcellin spat back at her, getting worked up, "Without me you'd have ended up starving to death on the streets! I think in that you owe me some respect!" Her muscles tensed and she almost forgot not to argue back the viscous words she wanted to scream. _Without you I wouldn't have ended up on the streets in the first place. Without you I would still have a family. _

Instead she whispered back to him almost like a disobedient dog crying for its masters forgiveness, "Your right Marcellin, I'm sorry. I apologize for being late…father." She almost choked on the very word. This man was not nor would he ever be, her father. "Good girl." He complimented her, then continued on, "Now, down to business. How is your training? I heard that yesterday you nearly broke your neck, and ripped your clothes. What the devil does he have you doing that involves such a process?" _Training, if you could really call it that. _She thought."They were just chores. It was my clumsiness that did it. I tripped on your cat, and the cloak got caught in the fence." That stupid cat, she hated that cat. Marcellin's cat, Solomon, a fat white cat, spoiled more than his own son. "Ah yes Solomon, the little rascal. How does your new cloak fit, by the looks of it a size too large, I'd say?" Now he was just making small talk before something big that would no doubt end in a fight. This was how he always did it.

"It fits fine." Kidd replied. "Good, good." He said, "But..there is something we need to discuss." _I'm sure there is. _She thought. "Why don't we start by telling us what you did last night." He started. Oh great…he knew, oh well. She would lie anyway, just to piss him off. The long red streaks across her back from before had long since healed, and she beginning to enjoy the feeling of pain. "I came back from supper, went to my room, and went to sleep." She lied. Marcellin pursed his lips, he knew she was lying and she knew that he did. He reached in his dresser and pulled out a "King James" version of the bible, setting on his desk. "Place your hand on this bible and tell me that again." Without hesitation, but very irritated, she flung her open palm on the bible and stared Marcellin straight in the eyes. "I ate dinner, went to my room, and went to bed."

"LIAR!" He screamed reaching for his cane. She made a false attempt to run but he caught her by the wrist, drawing the cane back, "And in the eyes of god, you blasphemous little shit!" He swung the cane swiftly striking her face, she let out a shrieking scream as blood dripped out of her tender white skin. Not caring at all Marcellin clutched the back of her hair, digging his nails into her scalp, he forced her to look up at him. "I saw you last night, sneaking out again. So tell me, where did you go this time?" She didn't answer him, he didn't deserve an answer. It was none of his business where she went. She just stared up at him, with hatred in her eyes. "Answer me!" He demanded, drawing back his cane to threaten her.

Before he could strike her again, she was saved by three calm knocks on the door. "Oh for gods sake! What is it?" He urged, he still held Kidd by the scalp, viscously. "Marcellin, sir, there is a Mousier Desmarais here to see you." The voice on the other side of the door informed. He rolled his eyes and proceeded, "Very well, let him in." Before he unlocked the door, he stared at Kidd, tightening his grasp, "I'll deal with you later." He threatened through grinded teeth, releasing her.

After he threatened her, he went on to unlock the door and she made her way out, pressing the sleeve of her cloak against her the long streak of blood that now went from the upper right corner of her forehead to the bottom of her lip. Stepping through the door she passed by a worry looking man who was on his way to Marcellin, who greeted him and then shut the door behind her, not forgetting to give her the evil eye as he did. Not really caring about Marcellin and his affairs she ignored his crude gesture and went to go find Leon.

It wasn't long after she headed back downstairs of the mansion, that Leon found her, he stared her down, his eyes widening as if a ghost stood before him, "Your face!" He exclaimed, examining it. He ran his thumb over the cut, blood still leaking out, dripping down. "Don't touch it, you idiot!" She protested, smacking his hand away. "I hate to say it, Kidd, but I told you so." He stated inattentively.

"Marcellin can cane me all he wants. His day will come. When I finally get my revenge."

Leon shushed her, "Do you want him to hear you?" "Let him hear all he wants. I don't care." She retorted. "Kidd don't talk like that." He warned her. "No Leon, no! I'm tired of this! Six years ago, on that night, you promised me revenge! Where is it Leon? Why am I still trapped here in this hell hole?" She demanded raising her voice as loud as it could carry. So loud she didn't have one doubt in her mind that Marcellin would hear. Leon's eye widened and his body froze. "Kidd you idiot!" He said through grinded teeth, his face reddening in fury. At this she raised her eyebrows somehow suddenly satisfied, "I'm leaving Leon. I can't take this place anymore." She told him, firmly and surely. He was thrown back by this, at first he didn't know what to say, he stood there, speechless as she headed for the door.

"What about your precious revenge?" He spat at her, as she reached for the doorknob. "Oh I'll get my revenge. Don't worry, I'll return, and kill Marcellin. Him as well as everyone, including you." She swore, turning back toward the door intending to exit but was stopped by Leon's reply, "What did I ever do to you?" He asked in a sadder, sobbier, tone. She took a moment to let Leon's sad expression sink in, all these years, six years, Leon had done the best he could to take Adrian's place. To comfort her when she was sad and to help raise her and teach her. How could she have said that to him? He really hadn't done anything to her. _No…no he has. I've waited all these years, been promised revenge again and again… _Her thoughts trailed off into words, "You promised me revenge, and you have failed. I've waited here, in misery, and pain." She said, making sure not to look Leon in the eyes. She knew, if she looked him in the eyes, she couldn't do it. "All because of false promises." She said staring at the clean glossy floor in front of the door of which she still held her hand on the knob. _No…Amber, come on, don't be a sap. _She forced herself to stare at him directly in his light brown eyes, she could tell, they were filled with sadness. But why? Why? _My parents, and my brother are dead. They were my life. Leon is __**nothing **__to me. _She thought_. _She stared into his eyes, and felt like she was glaring deeply into his soul. "You mean **nothing **to me." She said bitterly.

And with those final cold words she left, storming off into the night, not caring what would happen now. Not caring if Marcellin knew. It was final. She would find a place to stay, nothing permanent. Just a place for now, until she could come back. However, her return would not be a pleasant one, for Marcellin and his clan anyway. They would pay. Oh how they would pay!

Once she thought she was far enough away from Marcellin's overly sized mansion she stopped to analyze where she was at. She was surrounded by nothing but woods. The same woods where the mansion sat far in the back. The same woods she the cirque had made camp in…that day. The woods would go on for another few miles. She was growing tired of walking, and the pain from the long cut on her face was starting to sink in, but, she knew better than to rest in the woods, she had walked at least four miles away from the mansion yet she still felt it was nearby. She forced herself to keep moving and stay alert of all things. The last thing she needed was for any of them to come looking for her and for her and to be caught.

It took another half hour before she finally made her way out of the woods. On the way she passed by something she'd passed many times before on the nights she spent sneaking out, yet just like every time, the sight made her heart feel like it had been stung. The painful remaining ashes of what had once been her life. She studied, the burned, dead tree's and the smoldered remains of the cirque's tents. This wasn't the first time she'd stumbled upon this place. She still remembered the first time, a few years ago, the first time she had snuck out. That time was the worst.

No matter how hard she tried to forget, she still remembered that horrible night, the second most horrible night in all her life. The night she stumbled upon the disgusting, rotting corpses of people that she had once consider family. And then, even worse, her own family, her parents lying dead next to each other and then, the worst part of it all, Adrian. His burned corpse, laying at her feet. It nearly tore her to taking her own life as she gazed painfully upon the once living body of her dead brother.

She would never forget that night, but this time, as every other time since that night, she walked by staring straight ahead, not allowing herself to look down. However, not seeing the bodies could not erase that fact that she still knew they were there, she knew she was revisiting them. As always she felt sick to her stomach until she reached the end of the woods.

Finally she came out into the wide opening that lead out to Paris. By then it had started to rain, with the tree's no longer sheltering her, her hair and clothes got soaking wet. The blood on her face washed down on to her neck, making her look like she had either been murdered or murdered someone. Either one was not a good image to set off walking the streets. Even if there weren't many people out, given the time.

The streets of Paris were silent and dead. She couldn't even begin to have any idea as to how late it was. The only place left making even the slightest noise was the opera house. Maybe it was safer to walk the streets than she thought, or maybe, it wasn't. _Great, so where do I go now? _She wondered, pacing the sidewalk. Then, something came to her, shot through her mind like a raging bullet. The Opera House, how many nights had she sat at its steps? Listening to that sweet music coming from inside, the music that brought to her, an escape. An escape from the outside world, and into her own. A world where Marcellin and his organization of crazed Jesus freaks never existed, a world where her parents were still alive, and she was safe in her brothers arms again. She could never understand that strange fascination she had with the music, but she knew she wanted it. The Opera House sat tall and glorious as she gazed upon it. _I wonder what's it like, inside. _She thought. All these years, every time she'd snuck out, she'd always ended up sitting on those steps, yet she had never, thought of venturing inside. To go to an Opera you had to buy a ticket, and tickets, were expensive. The only kind of people that went to operas, were, well, rich people. She had no money…but now the curiosity was overwhelming her. What lied beyond those doors?

_I have to know. _She told herself. And in that moment, she completely forgot everything, Marcellin, her parents, Leon, running away…the only thing that mattered, was finding a way inside.


End file.
